Even if you choose wisely in the Console Wars, you will still find yourself, eventually, left in the cold. Most game consoles are only good for about 5 or 10 years, after which, another will be released, rendering your investment in the current (now previous) console generation a waste. Even PCs dry up and must be upgraded at hideous expense.

Backwards compatibility, which we've been crying for for decades now would solve the consoles problems. And "hideous expense"? I really thought we'd managed to put down that white elephant.

But long live the War, it's whats kept the innovations flowing for 30 years now.

The console wars? Haven't those outdated and underpowered toasters died yet? Speaking as one of the PC Elitists, whose machine is always on the cutting edge of technology, all I can say is, why does anyone care about your piddly little out-of-date and way-past-its-prime "hardware"? Consoles are the source of all the problems that games and gaming faces in modern society, from the poor quality games we receive to the public perception of gamers as a pathetic, pimply group of scum living in basements.

If games want to grow and be recognised for what they are, then developers need to return to the wellspring that bore them, the PC users. We are the ones who drive technological advancements, we are the ones who push constantly for innovation, but what do we get in return? Godawful, bug-ridden and faulty ports of games that would have been dismissed as rubbish not so long ago, but we're expected to be not only grateful that we got the game ported in the first place, but down on our knees praising the developer.

To hell with that. I'll praise a developer when they actually come out with a game that is NOT yt another reiteration last year's dribbling-fanboy-orgasm, something that actually uses the potential and power of the pc to push gaming to greater heights, not rehashing the same old shit we've seen ejaculated over and over again to satisfy the abominably low levels of expectation from the drooling "console gamer" masses.

Overall, mine is better than yours. The PC will ALWAYS be superior to any console. Cry as much as you like, consolers, but we have the technological advantage. Now if you'd stop acting like dribbling fools with ADHD and handing over your cash for every game that has a flashy tv ad, maybe we'd get some games that are worthy of being called A-Grade in 2011, instead of 2005 games with a new number tacked on to the end of the title.

Jaythulhu:The console wars? Haven't those outdated and underpowered toasters died yet? Speaking as one of the PC Elitists, whose machine is always on the cutting edge of technology, all I can say is, why does anyone care about your piddly little out-of-date and way-past-its-prime "hardware"? Consoles are the source of all the problems that games and gaming faces in modern society, from the poor quality games we receive to the public perception of gamers as a pathetic, pimply group of scum living in basements.

If games want to grow and be recognised for what they are, then developers need to return to the wellspring that bore them, the PC users. We are the ones who drive technological advancements, we are the ones who push constantly for innovation, but what do we get in return? Godawful, bug-ridden and faulty ports of games that would have been dismissed as rubbish not so long ago, but we're expected to be not only grateful that we got the game ported in the first place, but down on our knees praising the developer.

To hell with that. I'll praise a developer when they actually come out with a game that is NOT yt another reiteration last year's dribbling-fanboy-orgasm, something that actually uses the potential and power of the pc to push gaming to greater heights, not rehashing the same old shit we've seen ejaculated over and over again to satisfy the abominably low levels of expectation from the drooling "console gamer" masses.

Overall, mine is better than yours. The PC will ALWAYS be superior to any console. Cry as much as you like, consolers, but we have the technological advantage. Now if you'd stop acting like dribbling fools with ADHD and handing over your cash for every game that has a flashy tv ad, maybe we'd get some games that are worthy of being called A-Grade in 2011, instead of 2005 games with a new number tacked on to the end of the title.

You've both got that a bit wrong. It's arcades that really kick-started gaming. There was the idea in the '50's, and some guy made an incredibly simple version of tennis that made Pong look like Crysis, but it still was its own box and plugged into a TV. It was, technically, a console. But it wasn't very popular - the original games, the ones that really made gaming great and fun and popular were in arcades. Then consoles got really popular. Then PC's.

Also, it's all a matter of opinion. Besides, everyone knows that the PS2 had the best variety and the best games of any console, ever, which is proven by the fact that new ones are still sold and new games are still sold, although the last batch of hot new games for it has already come and gone. Ten years, almost eleven, and it's still going strong. If you bought one at launch and it still works, no upgrades have been needed beyond maybe a component cable or new memory card.

PC games? No, I don't think gaming was ever really central to PC's, nor do I think it ever will be. Are shooters and strategy better on PC? Yes, but everything else is better on console. If you prefer PC, that's great, but stop being sour over your, ahem, "console" of choice getting the shitty end of the stick. It isn't any better than consoles, it just costs more and requires more upgrades.

You know what's funny about the console wars (and for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to include PCs into the term 'console wars')? It's that now it means what we use to entertain ourselves has entered into the realm of religion and politics of things we puff our chests up and go into psychotic rants over. Take Jaythulhu's shallow, boring, pointless tirade above me, for instance: four paragraphs decrying the evils of console games, and how PCs are superior (in fact, a wellspring) and made of goodness, complete with blinding double-standard statements like these:

Consoles are the source of all the problems that games and gaming faces in modern society, from the poor quality games we receive to the public perception of gamers as a pathetic, pimply group of scum living in basements.

To hell with that. I'll praise a developer when they actually come out with a game that is NOT yt another reiteration last year's dribbling-fanboy-orgasm, something that actually uses the potential and power of the pc to push gaming to greater heights, not rehashing the same old shit we've seen ejaculated over and over again to satisfy the abominably low levels of expectation from the drooling "console gamer" masses.

These statements ignore the reality that PCs are actually considered part of the "public perception of gamers," and that PC gamers have no leg to stand on as far as bitching about "another reiteration [of] last year's dribbling-fanboy-orgasm," considering that PC games for the last, what, 20 years, have been an endless recycling of either FPS' like Doom, Quake, or Duke Nukem, sim/strategy games like Civilization or The Sims, or of World of Warcraft, either through endless sequels, clones, or expansion packs. Hell, the games that PC gamers are getting the most excited about this year are Diablo III (a second sequel), and Crysis 2 (a sequel to a derivative FPS whose only claim to fame was being so extra sparkly it crashed even 'advanced' PCs).

At least the people making psychotic rants about religion and politics are doing it over things that (somewhat) matter, like ethics, laws, and morality (most of the time, anyway). Gamers, with PC gamers like Jay being the biggest offenders, are only further dumbing-down culture by holding up their shiny, generic, pieces of shit and proclaiming them 'superior' to other shiny, generic, pieces of shit. Do these gamers actually care about games that are interesting, like Ico, The Last Express, World of Goo, Eternal Darkness, or Shenmue II?* No, they care about the Gears of Killzone Forever: Modern Tournament 6s of the gaming world, and will endlessly bicker about them even though they're the exact same game. The only way the console war could be even more inane is if every single person who wanted to argue that their platform of choice is "the best" would type their point in all caps, at least then the rest of us who aren't mouth-breathing dolts who get our sense of self-worth from sitting bug-eyed in front of something while endlessly pushing buttons could then know right away that these people have nothing worthwhile to say.

Even if you choose wisely in the Console Wars, you will still find yourself, eventually, left in the cold. Most game consoles are only good for about 5 or 10 years, after which, another will be released, rendering your investment in the current (now previous) console generation a waste. Even PCs dry up and must be upgraded at hideous expense.

Backwards compatibility, which we've been crying for for decades now would solve the consoles problems. And "hideous expense"? I really thought we'd managed to put down that white elephant.

"Whit elephant," my ass, little gipper. Anybody who suggests that keeping ahead of the curve with PC gaming hardware isn't outrageously expensive hasn't had to do it enough times to be talking on the subject.

Oh...an issue about console wars...no offense, but I feel like I may be staying away from the forums this week. And ofcourse this thread is already doing a fantastic job of convincing me even further, showing the exact idiotic pointless dribble that's like a cancer to the gaming community.

Grey_Focks:Oh...an issue about console wars...no offense, but I feel like I may be staying away from the forums this week. And ofcourse this thread is already doing a fantastic job of convincing me even further, showing the exact idiotic pointless dribble that's like a cancer to the gaming community.

It'd be nice if people could look back at their fallen consoles and long-settled console wars with nostalgia rather than feeling the need to jump back into them.

I just hope that by sticking to older consoles in this issue, the fallout will be minimal. It probably will, as long as my fellow PC gamers can show restraint and not write "SUPER NINTENDO SUCKS GENESIS SUCKS PC FOREVER!!!" all over the forum.

Russ Pitts: Anybody who suggests that keeping ahead of the curve with PC gaming hardware isn't outrageously expensive hasn't had to do it enough times to be talking on the subject.

Keeping ahead of the curve isn't the same as keeping up with the curve though. My £600 machine keeps me up to date with any of the new releases - and still keeps all the old releases.

It does bother me when "couple thousand" for a new machine is slung around. If that's what they're charging you, you're getting horrendously ripped off. Grab one of those helpful PC people and see what they can make you for the same price as your console. (Just avoid the jerks, we do.)

Jaythulhu:The console wars? Haven't those outdated and underpowered toasters died yet? Speaking as one of the PC Elitists, whose machine is always on the cutting edge of technology, all I can say is, why does anyone care about your piddly little out-of-date and way-past-its-prime "hardware"? Consoles are the source of all the problems that games and gaming faces in modern society, from the poor quality games we receive to the public perception of gamers as a pathetic, pimply group of scum living in basements.

I have my computer for work. Games that I have had on my PC's or even Mac's before would cause them to freeze up. My current computer has not frozen up sans games on it for at least a year despite how many programs I have up and running at once. I have a console for gaming so I don't have to fight with the IRS. And those machines are dedicated gaming devices. I have many friends who have gone out of their way to build a "monster gaming PC/Mac" but isn't that exactly what a console is for?

Frankly, I think the next gen of consoles will allow mods and skins and the like. They will become standardized gaming specific computers in a nifty looking case. They were headed that way in the first place. As long as they get over this "dumbing it down for console" mentality, there will be a real Renaissance of gaming since old games are getting offered alongside the new. I look forward to it.

Russ Pitts: Anybody who suggests that keeping ahead of the curve with PC gaming hardware isn't outrageously expensive hasn't had to do it enough times to be talking on the subject.

Keeping ahead of the curve isn't the same as keeping up with the curve though. My £600 machine keeps me up to date with any of the new releases - and still keeps all the old releases.

It does bother me when "couple thousand" for a new machine is slung around. If that's what they're charging you, you're getting horrendously ripped off. Grab one of those helpful PC people and see what they can make you for the same price as your console. (Just avoid the jerks, we do.)

Yeah, see, you're still talking to me like you think I don't know what I'm talking about here. Sorry, chum, but that won't do. Even if I hadn't written extensively on the subject (which I have) I am EIC of this here website, so give me a little credit 'kay?

I've hand built all manner of PCs, from sub-$1k workhorse machines to multi-thousand-dollar PC gaming godboxes. I've also purchased a variety of variously powerful (or not) machines at retail. I've been PC gaming since PCs were called "clones". I even built a PC on on live TV once. (You may have missed it, being in grade school and all ;) ) So, seriously, cut the smack.

At the end of the day, no matter where on the curve you aim to be and what kind of voodoo backdoor wholesale parts mongering you bring to bear, PC gaming is an expensive hobby. More expensive (and complex) than playing on a console. If the tradeoff in money and time is worth it to you, as a consumer, in exchange for a marginal increase in graphical fidelity, a substantial increase in customization and control options and a gargantuan increase in E-Peen status, then rock your casbah. But don't tell me it's an inexpensive pursuit. That's an insult to my intelligence and your credibility.

There are plenty of us who might acknowledge the hardware superiority of the PC, but if technical specs were the be-all and end-all of this industry, Sega would have been a mighty colossus striding over its fallen competitors. Or maybe it would have been Coleco, or SNK.

Sometimes you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars upgrading your video card. Sometimes you don't like spending hours making sure Java and your drivers are all up to date and navigating around DRM. Sometimes, you want to just put a disc in a drive, spend 5 minutes downloading an update, and playing the game. And some of us, sometimes have 5 or 6 or 10 people over and we'd like to entertain ourselves with some party/multi-player games. And some of us find it pretty damn convenient that the gaming box we already have hooked up to the TV can be used to play DVDs or Blu-rays without having to buy another appliance.

Consoles are here to stay. Or if not, tablets or some other convenient, simple-to-use device will succeed them.

I just hope that by sticking to older consoles in this issue, the fallout will be minimal. It probably will, as long as my fellow PC gamers can show restraint and not write "SUPER NINTENDO SUCKS GENESIS SUCKS PC FOREVER!!!" all over the forum.

Is that even possible? I have yet to see it on this, or any other forum.

Even if you choose wisely in the Console Wars, you will still find yourself, eventually, left in the cold. Most game consoles are only good for about 5 or 10 years, after which, another will be released, rendering your investment in the current (now previous) console generation a waste. Even PCs dry up and must be upgraded at hideous expense.

Backwards compatibility, which we've been crying for for decades now would solve the consoles problems. And "hideous expense"? I really thought we'd managed to put down that white elephant.

"Whit elephant," my ass, little gipper. Anybody who suggests that keeping ahead of the curve with PC gaming hardware isn't outrageously expensive hasn't had to do it enough times to be talking on the subject.

So just stick on the curve, and still play everything on max settings. And by the time you factor in how dirt cheap other PC gaming expenses are, I wouldn't be surprised if it worked out a fair bit cheaper.

Over here at least, PC games are usually £10 cheaper in-store and £15 cheaper on Steam; we don't have to pay for XBL or bloody £60 "official" dongles; DLC is often cheaper or free; and if you're getting a console you're going to want a PC probably anyway, so you've got a £200 console and a (likely) £300-£400 PC.

Might as well get a £600 one that'll run stuff just fine for the next 2-3 years, and use the savings you make along the way to absorb the cost of upgrading.

I find it interesting, console wars. I mean I get it and all but what amuses me is when you get both proponents and haters of "console vs pc" which seems like a whole new ball game. But I bet a plethora of people who at least have seen threads and know about these two debates have little to no insight about the "wars" within the PC community itself. Radeon vs Nvidia! AMD vs Intel! Intel is stupid! No, AMD is crap! Radeons are the best bang for your buck! No, Radeon sucks and Nvidia is the shit! It goes on and on and on.

Grey_Focks:Oh...an issue about console wars...no offense, but I feel like I may be staying away from the forums this week. And ofcourse this thread is already doing a fantastic job of convincing me even further, showing the exact idiotic pointless dribble that's like a cancer to the gaming community.

This comments thread is just like that one time a sysop sent an email to an user saying that they should never send their passwords to anyone, even if they sent a message that looked legit, and enclosed one so that they knew what to look out for, and thousands of people replied with their user names and passwords.

Russ: We shouldn't argue about which system is better.Forumgoer: I agree completely. After all, there's no argument that the PC is better.